Nasturtiums, salvaged materials & pumpkins!

A Happy Halloween from the Empty Common Community Garden!

The days might be getting shorter but it's busier than ever at the Garden. We have harvested some lovely pumpkins and squashes, great for soups and pies! 

We do work hard, but there is also a lot of chatting going on, we take great pleasure in talking to new and regular volunteers. You might be surprised to read we do not have 'officious' meetings as such, we communicate via a Google group and the highlights are published on this blog. 

Charlotte rescued an old trampoline frame from being dumped and we think it could make a good rail to lean our bikes against. One photo shows it being held up a bit higher than it would be once the legs were in the ground. The other photo shows its curves. One curve would go around the apple tree that we planted last year. However, the framework could also be made into a circle (4m diameter) and used as an arch or frame for growing stuff up... we are still debating this among ourselves. Salvaged materials are everywhere in the Garden.

We picked lots of nasturtium (Tropaeolum) seeds, last year we had very few and this year was a bumper crop. Thank you Mary for planting them, they have been and still are wonderful. Nasturtium is Latin for twisted nose, but ours aren't from the genus Nasturtium. The annual garden nasturtiums are from the genus Tropaeolum (Tropaeolum majus). Here is a website with recipes for pickling them. It has a recipe for nasturtium butter too, which sounds yummy. A friend also makes nasturtium pesto; she uses ground almonds, which are cheaper than pine nuts. The nasturtiums will disappear with the first reasonable frost, so it's now or never! 

We also harvested chard, celery, peppers and cabbage. We picked a 'rude' veg, which was entered in a special competition. It is a cheeky turnip indeed!

Last but not least, someone in the US is 'hearting' us with a juicy tomato. Thank you, John. We miss you and Mary.